As any shopper will attest, one of the biggest issues with transporting fresh foods and other such groceries is that such items must be quickly transported from the store to the home, in order to prevent the same from spoiling. As a result, consumers must carefully plan their schedules to ensure that a grocery store is among the last stops of the day, before rushing home to store the goods within a temperature controlled environment.
There are many known devices that are designed to keep food items cool for various periods of time. For example, traditional coolers utilize a combination of ice and water to maintain a cool interior temperature. Likewise, other food containers such as picnic baskets, for example, often include built-in areas into which frozen gel packages may be inserted to maintain a modicum of chilling durations. Although each of these devices function to provide a modicum of temperature control for a short duration of time, neither device is capable of maintaining a constant temperature for a prolonged and/or indefinite period of time. Also, because coolers and other such devices are bulky in nature, they are not ideally suited for use within automobiles and other such vehicles where space is at a premium.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a vehicular refrigerator system having an expandable and temperature controlled area which can receive and store items for prolonged periods of time without suffering from the drawbacks of the above noted devices.